Overview
- A new National Bureau of Economic Research paper ties spikes in immigration arrests to job losses for U.S.-born and undocumented workers in sectors like agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and wholesale.
- The researchers estimate a 5% drop in employment for male undocumented workers and a 1.3% drop for male U.S.-born workers without a college degree in those industries.
- In construction, jobs fell 3% for comparable U.S.-born men while undocumented employment fell 7.5%, pointing to stalled building activity rather than worker substitution.
- The study links each immigration arrest with about six job losses for U.S.-born workers and four for undocumented workers, indicating broad pullbacks in hiring.
- Wages stayed flat as firms scaled back output, and local reporting in Central and Upstate New York describes arrests that included people with no criminal records, straining crews and farms.